Koldov Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 (edited) Well, it's started... slowly, insidiously, creeping in, asking for log-insssssss my precious.... We've just been consumed by a MAT and done the whole academy thing and it hasn't been a great start for a number of different reasons... A few big issues and a few little niggling doubts (like meetings happening with MAT staff who already have equivalent staff here etc.)... luckily we haven't gone corporate so it hasn't been a complete tear-down, but the claws are definitely in... We used to have a lovely EWO (Education Welfare Officer) from the LEA who would come in and sit with our SIMS person (not really a 'SIMS' person as such, but a member of the admin/reception team that has the 'admissions officer' role). The most that EWO ever asked me for was the Wi-Fi login for their LEA laptop. Now they've gone obviously and we have a person from the MAT who breezed in, got our admin staff to summon me to reception and demanded a SIMS login... My knee-jerk reaction was no... but followed up swiftly with a 'it's not my decision' statement to cover my A$$... I'm also going to imagine a Network/Windows log-in is going to have to happen as well... because if she's not going to be doing this with our admissions person, she obviously won't be using her computer log-in... /rant Anyway... I have zero experience creating a SIMS log-in and giving that user specific permissions (enough to do their job, but not enough to see all the data SIMS stores about everyone). However, I have just had an email from the Headteacher to create this person a SIMS log-in! Does anyone have a similar situation and know the specific permissions an EWO needs? Edited September 30, 2024 by Koldov
Koldov Posted September 30, 2024 Author Posted September 30, 2024 (edited) Some other things to bear in mind... The email states this person will be here to 'check our attendance and produce letters for parents'. So will they need to create reports, save them on the system...? Have access to the network, staff drives, printers...? So many questions! Now the messy bit... if I need to create a user in SIMS, do I need to class them as an employee, do I need home address etc. Is there some sort of 'guest user' I could create? Edited September 30, 2024 by Koldov
Koldov Posted September 30, 2024 Author Posted September 30, 2024 (edited) Now I'm thinking about it, do they need to sign our policies to use our systems? Or is it going to be a case of 'well we're all MAT employees now, so I can come here and do what I like'..? Ultimately I can't say no, I guess I've just got to do what I'm told.... but I think I should make the headteacher aware of these points, so how do I email the headteacher back telling them it's 'a little more complicated than that', without sounding like I'm being difficult/making excuses/being a blocker/resisting 'progress' or inferring that they don't understand the implications...? Edited September 30, 2024 by Koldov
mavhc Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 who normally creates users for new teaching staff for example? 1
DrCheese Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 (edited) You're overthinking it - Just give them the same access you'd give a local admin staff (eg receptionist) End of the day, you are ran by the Trust now & they own you so don't get tied up in worrying about policy signings and so on. They are bound by the MAT data protection policy just as you & any member of your staff in school is so you're already compliant from that point of view. I would still make the head aware you've given that access however. Edited September 30, 2024 by DrCheese 1
Koldov Posted September 30, 2024 Author Posted September 30, 2024 who normally creates users for new teaching staff for example? Our admin manager who is off long-term. We have a ridiculously small turnover of staff so we don't create new admin users very often, but I'd guess at least for teachers there would be some sort of template (well just look at what the permissions other teachers have). You're overthinking it - Just give them the same access you'd give a local admin staff (eg receptionist) End of the day, you are ran by the Trust now & they own you so don't get tied up in worrying about policy signings and so on. They are bound by the MAT data protection policy just as you & any member of your staff in school is. Yeah, I guess (story of my life)... Well, we don't have basic local admin staff as such, we're a small school and they've all been here for 10 or 20+ years (some even longer!) and they all have specialised bits that they do (and so have been given extra permissions).
3s-gtech Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 Don't get sucked into guest user methodology. Set them up with a SIMS login, document the request from the head. Nail the permissions down. You may need to give them a login, but they don't need access to your shares. Make them aware of your policies. You don't need home address. SIMS does have permissions for non-employees.
Koldov Posted September 30, 2024 Author Posted September 30, 2024 End of the day, you are ran by the Trust now & they own you so don't get tied up in worrying about policy signings and so on. They are bound by the MAT data protection policy just as you & any member of your staff in school is so you're already compliant from that point of view. I knew I'd have a hard time letting go... I've been network manager here for 13 years (unlucky for some)... I guess I'm fooling myself to think I can still have some measure of control, but I'm fairly black & white, so in my mind it's all or nothing.... and I'm quite competent and cutting my nose off to spite my face... I feel like just washing my hands of it and going yeah, have at it, here's the admin password... see ya! At least it's nearly time to go home!
pete Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 With my MAT hat on, I'd ask why are they trekking out to the school to get SIMS data when for £5/month/school you can pull that data into a Wonde API and then a MAT-wide Power BI dashboard. It's exceptionally good for normalising data from random MIS platforms into something sane and usable. But as others have said, get authorisation from an appropriate person in writing and provided appropriate access. I'd also have a word with your HT and ask if they're sitting on any other access requests since $MAT_person turning up was likely something they (or one of their direct reports) knew about. When we take on a new school we try very hard not to step on toes, but that does rely on the school SLT looping their staff into requests in a timely manner.
DrCheese Posted September 30, 2024 Posted September 30, 2024 I knew I'd have a hard time letting go... I've been network manager here for 13 years (unlucky for some)... I guess I'm fooling myself to think I can still have some measure of control, but I'm fairly black & white, so in my mind it's all or nothing.... and I'm quite competent and cutting my nose off to spite my face... I feel like just washing my hands of it and going yeah, have at it, here's the admin password... see ya! At least it's nearly time to go home! No no - As someone who's been in your shoes I know how difficult it is to avoid thinking like this. The best I can say is go into this all with an open mind, see it as a good thing that you are now part of a bigger picture & do whatever you can to be friendly with any existing team. Like the poster above, the other side can often feel just as wary about stepping on toes so I would engage with them as much as you can.
Koldov Posted October 1, 2024 Author Posted October 1, 2024 When we take on a new school we try very hard not to step on toes, but that does rely on the school SLT looping their staff into requests in a timely manner. No no - As someone who's been in your shoes I know how difficult it is to avoid thinking like this. The best I can say is go into this all with an open mind, see it as a good thing that you are now part of a bigger picture & do whatever you can to be friendly with any existing team. Like the poster above, the other side can often feel just as wary about stepping on toes so I would engage with them as much as you can. Yeah, thanks I get it... Sadly I got an email the other day which certainly seems to suggest hobnail boots are being laced up as we speak... I've also spoken to the member of admin staff who's working with the EWO and apparently they were talking about remote access into SIMS and all sorts, so we've escalated just a touch... Anyway, I've gone off-topic on my own post! So, does anyone know anything about creating a user in SIMS (but not as a staff member - I'm thinking about the School Workforce Census etc.) and giving specific permissions for an EWO? Things like children's details and parents details...? I have found permission groups such as 'Attendance Manager' and 'Attendance Operator' do you think that's all they'd need?
Anonymous2000 Posted October 1, 2024 Posted October 1, 2024 This shows you all the roles and permissions: https://customer.support-ess.com/csm?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0051859&sys_kb_id=b5c2750a83858690b20cc2c8beaad369&spa=1 This shows you how to add staff: https://www.schoolicts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Setting-up-a-new-User-in-SIMS.pdf 1
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